


Vill I. An's School for Terrible Boys and Girls

by PumpkinSpike



Series: Short Stories [1]
Category: Original Work
Genre: Bullying, F/M, Gen, Original Fiction, Suicide, bad people doing bad things, one does not lead to the other, trigger warning, well not completely anyways
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-08-16
Updated: 2019-08-16
Packaged: 2020-07-31 15:36:58
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Major Character Death
Chapters: 2
Words: 14,213
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/20117461
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/PumpkinSpike/pseuds/PumpkinSpike
Summary: The school for villains has a new student. Things will never be the same.





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> This is still a work in progress. The story is complete, but how it is presented is not quite finished. If you have any thoughts on the story, I would love to hear feedback.
> 
> The trigger warnings are not a joke, by the way. YMMV, but the bullying is very central to the story. Suicide is not mentioned in detail, but does occur in the story.
> 
> Need a visualization for the characters in the story? Their designs can be found [here](https://toyhou.se/checkeredbow/characters/folder:928552) (Toyhouse link).

**prologue.**

Vill A. In's Private High School for Terrible Little Boys and Girls.

Charming name, right? The campus location is even better. On the edge of a nondescript continent, right by a mass of murky water stands a tall mountain. Even the land around the mountain is frightening to look at. There are only rocks and sand strewn around. Maybe far, far, far in the distance there is one tree. The kind seen in the desert and can't be reached. The entire place just screamed of death.

And evil.

Of course, how could I forget that?

The mountain looks exactly like an evil mastermind's lair. There are a multitude of caves throughout the mountain and the top half is hidden by black clouds. And at the very top of the mountain, on its highest peak, there are a set of floating stairs. These stairs go high, high up. High up until they are lost in the clouds.

Aaaannnd past those stairs are my high school. Man, climbing up those stairs every day was such a pain. Thank God my best friend was an evil genius who invented a flying vehicle. I'm not exactly sure how it worked. I should've asked him back then. Could've came in handy more than once.

Anyways, in case it isn't obvious by now, this is a high school for not-so-good people. Morally. There are a number of "good" students: evil geniuses who move on to make great discoveries and inventions, outstanding alumni who become great leaders of organizations that do unspeakable things...

These traits are fostered in our high school. Heck, a number of evil genius classmates have already begun attempting personal human experimentation projects. Trying to avoid getting kidnapped by them during school is all part of the fun. We are the children of villains, here to learn to be the same wicked, wretched people that they are. After all, good stories have to have good villains so we've got an important job here.

There are a number of schools across the continent for terrible boys and girls, but Vill A. In is the best one. The tuition is pretty costly, though, and I'm _sure_ no one here got in through "clean" methods. Heck, getting in is like the first test for us. Not that I'm complaining. It's great here.

The school's got a ranking system. Points can be obtained by good academics or... by stealing them from others. In fact, the latter is recommended. So people use all sorts of cheap tricks to get up top. The more points obtained, the better the lifestyle. Better lunches can be bought, more luxurious rooms and offices. Heck, those at the top can buy themselves out of detention.

It's the perfect breeding ground for hatred, distrust, and brilliant evil schemes.

**1.**

_Deet! Deet! Deet!_

I slapped my hand on the alarm and rolled out of bed with a groan. The morning routine has started. After brushing my teeth, washing my face, and putting on my uniform, I threw a carrot into the rabbit cage in the corner of the room. "See you later, Rabby," I said just as the rabbit sank inch long fangs into the carrot and started tearing it apart. Some bio-enthusiast messed with it before throwing it away. It looked cool so I took it in. Makes for a mean guard dog when I let it out of its cage, too.

"Three minutes and two seconds," my best friend was waiting outside my cave. Our dormitory was in the mountain the school floated above. We were left to our own devices as to how to protect ourselves from the climate and during our sleep. I opted to install an invisible laser wall. Invisible-- as in when turned on, it will only activate whenever someone walked past it. Saved some energy. Took nearly all the points I had on my first day here to get it installed. It caused me to go hungry for a week to get that many points back. As for climate control, I only used a space heater in the back of the cave for the Winter months. Rain doesn't reach my stuff so long as I didn't leave it in the front five feet of the cave and it's actually quite cool inside during the summer.

I turned off the laser wall and stepped outside. Then, I activated it again remotely. Wouldn't do well for someone to sneak in during the day, either, "You're still timing my wake up routine, Milks?"

"Yes, Mercury, I want to know how long I have to wait," he responded as he made space on the hovering... segway, I suppose. It looked similar to the segways I've seen people use, but Milks insisted that it wasn't. It really didn't help that he never named it. So, I opted to call it a hover-segway whenever he was out of earshot.

"There are other ways to do it."

"This is the best."

No it wasn't. You Grade A stalker.

"Anyways," I changed the subject, "How's your points looking?"

"I'm at a little past eleven-thousand. I'm pretty secure for the next few months."

"Don't spend it on some new science toy."

"What science toy are you talking about? I could use a new microscope now that I think about it. Ohhh, what about the new oscilloscope model I saw at the school store? I definitely need a new ammeter. Blew mine out with the last project--"

"I get it, I get it!" he just didn't know when to stop talking! At least he had started the craft and we were floating upwards towards school already. Ugh, I couldn't count the number of times he rambled for half an hour in front of my cave before I threatened to beat him up if he didn't start moving.

"Well, I would ask about your points too, but I guess I don't have to worry, right?" he grinned at me and I grinned back, "Number three in the whole school."

That first month here, I battled my way up to holding the third highest amount of points in the school, even besting the seniors. Milks himself didn't do too badly, he was number twenty-five. He would do a hella lot better if he wasn't buying all sorts of new toys every month. I wouldn't be surprised if he actually earned more than me in total. Smart kids always got a lot of points. Maintaining was another story.

Halfway up to the school, Milks suddenly said, "Oh yea, I got some new intel. There's a new student in our class today."

"Oh?"

"Well?"

"What?"

"You gonna jump them, Mercury?"

"Nah," I shrugged, "Maybe if they turn out to be someone strong. The weak doesn't interest me much."

Milks frowned, "Really?"

"Yea, it's too boring."

"Oh," he smiled again as we landed on the school campus. We got off the craft and he folded it up to fit in his backpack. We walked to school together while cracking a few jokes. Along the way, a freshman was surrounded by a group of older kids.

"Wow," Milks commented, "It's been two months since the start of the school year, you'd think he'd get it together already."

"It's fine, kids like him will drop out in no time. They'd do better at a different school."

Two steps into the school and a ball of yellow ran past me. "Watch it!" I growled, ready to start a brawl. Stepping down from a fight would only seem cowardly, and the cowardly don't survive long here.

"Sorry, sorry!" the girl bowed three times before running off again.

I stared wide eye after her, "Did she just bow?"

"Perhaps it's a new strategy?"

"Outta the way, losers!" the two of us were roughly shoved away from each other as a larger boy ran through us. I recognized him.

His parents were famous for trying to brainwash a nearby kingdom and using them as slaves. His older brother nearly got away with genocide for monetary gain. While he was still in school, he wasn't doing too bad either.

Well, compared to the rest of the school.

"Oh, of course!" I said loudly enough for him to hear, "Milks, we may be evil, but we're got _some_ morals. After all, we need to let those in a lower rank than us to _attempt_ to assert their dominance before we crush them completely."

"Oh, Mercury," Milks sighed, "Your taunting needs work."

"Who cares? I'm sure Aturn here is stupid enough to fall for anything."

Aturn stopped in his tracks, "Who the hell are you calling stupid?!" the expected fist came swinging at me. I ducked and dodged it easily. His fist hit the floor and cracked the tiles. I ran to his left and kicked him in the jaw.

"You."

Aturn let out a roar in rage and came charging at me again. This time, I slid under his legs and tripped him as soon as I was on the other side. Before he could get up again, I smashed my foot down on his head. "And if you want to change that," I added some pressure and caused the ground beneath Aturn's head to crack, "You best get stronger than me." I let out a laugh as I reached down to his pockets and pulled out his wallet and found his points card. I pull out mine as well and tapped them for the exchange, "I'm nice so I'll leave you with ten points!"

Kicking Aturn in the stomach three more times to make sure he was out for the count, I walked away from the scene. People were looking at him out of curiosity, but none bothered with him. Ten points wasn't worth anything. Of course, they could kill him... but there were cameras everywhere. The rule for killing points was: they'd have to do it out of sight.

Otherwise, it was just an unnecessary hassle.

"So how much is that?" Milks asked as we continued down the hall.

"Not enough to surpass number two," I grumbled as we reached our classroom. A few of the students were already seated. In particular, I note two people.

The top three ranking students in the school were all in the same class.

At the very top is Venus. I think he's part vampire, I never got the chance to confirm. Asking him might be equivalent to picking a fight. He's got this pale un-human like vibe about him despite having a humanoid shape. A lot of him is shrouded in mystery and there are all sort of rumors about his linage. He's got this strange charm to him and I'm sure that one day in the near future, he'd be running the mob or the military or an evil kingdom. He's already got a small empire in the school. He never does anything himself, everything is done by the people around him. He keeps his hands clean while exerting control... Boy, I'd love to know how he does that.

Then, the second is Mars. I actually hate this guy's style, but I have to admit it works. Unlike Venus, this guy's got no stealth or grace at all. He's the type who charges straight in without thinking about it. Y'know, one track mind. He'd definitely be easy for a hero to take down. Still... he made it to second and stayed up here so he's gotta have a few extra tricks up his sleeve. Mars's ancestry is interesting. His father tried to take over the universe at one point and succeeded for a few months. Nobody knows who his mother is, but based on his somewhat anti-hero nature, some people think that she must've been a heroine.

Strange as it might be.

I don't give a shit.

I took my seat in the second row and Milks took the one beside me. As I did so, an alien-like being walked past me and congratulated me on taking out Aturn. I assured him that it wasn't difficult. Unfortunately, the most difficult thing about Aturn is the fact that he doesn't stay down. I wouldn't be surprised if he gathered enough points to be number four again by the end of the day.

**2.**

A few minutes later, our home room teacher walked in. It was absolutely forbidden for students to attack any teachers. The punishment was expulsion after torture. Likewise, teachers could not harm students. I don't really know what the punishment for that is, but seeing how they haven't tried, I assume it's not fun either. During class, we're also not allowed to steal points. An ongoing scheme is welcomed, of course, but any fighting isn't allowed.

"A wonderfully wicked day as usual," our teacher, Mr. Quake grumbled just as a flash of lightning appeared outside the window. A few of the lower ranking students jumped. "I'm sure the news has leaked out already. We have a new student today," he waved at the door. There were a few snickers and whispers and mutters as the mid-rank students discussed how they should take the new student down.

We all heard the new student before we saw her. Her shoes squeaked as she took every step into the classroom. ...Soaking wet. I quickly recognized her as the girl I bumped into earlier. How did she get wet? She was perfectly dry and indoors before any sudden thunderstorm started.

She's a short girl, her blonde hair a mess on her head. It's thick and looks as though it _could_ be easily controlled. If she ever bothered with a comb. She has these large brown eyes that looked innocent and gentle, completely out of place in our school.

But the weirdest thing yet was that she was smiling.

It wasn't a smirk or the type of arrogant smile that most of the students wore. Her smile looked sweet and kind.

"Good morning," she smiled as she bowed her head, causing water to drip from the ends of her hair to the floor in front of her. The student sitting in the front row reeled back slightly to avoid getting hit by the water.

What the hell? Did this girl mean to attend the School for Damsels in Distress on the other side of the continent. (There's a School for Heroes and Heroines near there as well. The School for Damsels in Distress also accepts students of any gender due to recent outcries of social justice. It's still seventy percent girls.)

"My name is Jupi. I'm here to learn to be a great villain like my parents. I hope to get along with you all," she stood up straight again and stared at the class with a smile. We all stared back with wide eyes and open mouths, teacher included.

...For real?

She doesn't even fit anti-hero definition.

"Seventy points she doesn't last until second period," Milks whispered to me.

"She's soaked to the bone, I'd say she didn't last the walk from the entrance," I held out my hand for his card, "Seventy points."

Milks rolled his eyes before pulling his card out, entering the set amount and tossing it over. These cards actually didn't have much security on it. The only check process is entering an amount beforehand prior to pressing enter. No editing allowed. That way, it was possible to have an exchange with someone.

"... Yea, find a seat, kid," Mr. Quake finally gathered his wits again. Jupi nodded and looked around the room. There was only one seat available. The one next to Venus. Everyone watched as she walked down to the seat and sat down, still soaking wet. She smiled at Venus, who didn't return any greeting. "Anyways, I'm taking attendance," Mr. Quake cleared his throat and started repeating names off the sheet.

After attendance was taken, there were a few minutes of homeroom remaining for students to talk with each other. From the corner of my eye, I could see Jupi trying to make conversation with Venus. He appeared to be ignoring her for the most part, just giving curt nods to her statements, while she smiled as she talked with him. Whatever weird new strategy she had, she had found the target to be Venus and not me. Makes sense. He was the top ranked student.

Sitting behind Venus, I could see Arie fuming as she watched the two of them. I could see her gritting her teeth. Arie ranked thirty overall and had the best grades in our stalking class. She was definitely going to become one of those serial killers who kills her lover the moment she sees them talking with another woman. ...And she's set her heart on Venus.

Jupi isn't going to last long.

The bell rang and the students hurried to their next class. Milks and I have seven of our eight classes together, but I told him to go ahead, "I want to see how this plays out."

At the sound of the bell, Venus got up immediately and left, cutting Jupi off mid sentence. She was ready to follow him when Arie stalked over and blocked her path. "Hey," she smirked.

"Hi!" Jupi smiled back, "My name's Jupi--"

"I noticed dimwit."

Her smile faltered slightly, but then it returned in full force, "R-Right, what's yours?"

"Arie," she paused and just as Jupi was about to break the awkward silence, she spoke first, "So, why are you all wet?"

"Ah... Um, I was in the bathroom and some girls accidentally walked into me and knocked me right into the toilet."

Arie stifled a laugh, "Y-Yea... Our toilets are abnormally large to accommodate for the presence of any giant girls... So, where's your next class? I'll walk with you."

"Really?" Jupi practically glowed, "It's room 324."

"Right, come along," Arie pulled Jupi along, right past my desk. I had been slowly packing my bag, but she understood why I was still there. She raised an eyebrow at me as she passed and please, _please_ tell me she didn't have a light blush on her face. Keep your heart on Venus. I didn't want any of this trouble.

As soon as they left the room, Arie pushed her so that she went splaying out in the middle of the hallway. "Oh my gosh, are you alright, Jupi?! How did that happen?!" she went to help her up.

The disoriented Jupi smiled and nodded, "I, um, must've tripped. Thanks!"

"We should really get you out of the wet clothes, too. By the way, have you gotten your points card yet?"

"No, some girls were asking about that earlier, too, actually."

"Well, when are you getting it?"

"Tomorrow, I think."

I rolled my eyes, well, it was her funeral.

**3.**

"Did you see her at lunch?"

"No, why?"

"Well," Milks was hurrying after me out of the school. Classes were finally done for the day. I wanted to hurry back to my cave to think of a few new strategies for ruling the world. And maybe check out some of the new heroines in that magazine under my bed. "First she got a bowl of noodles on her head. She ran to the bathroom, I thought to cry, but she came back later with a smile so I guess she just didn't want to burn her eyes out."

"She's getting picked on terribly. Not a surprise. Someone as weak as her is going to get wrecked."

"Yea, news spread that she didn't get a card yet, anyways, so it looks like she's going to last till at least tomorrow. Seventy points, please."

I glared at him before punching in seventy on my card and handing it over to him.

"What actually happened was that Aturn was throwing a riot due to the fact that he didn't have enough points to buy a good meal."

"Really? He had a whole day, I expected better from him."

Milks shrugged, "I don't know. So he was getting angry at the lunch ladies and then Jupi walks up to him and buys him lunch."

"What? I thought she didn't have a card!"

"Apparently, she got a lunch pass for the first day."

"Okay, but what?! She _bought_ him lunch?!"

"Yea, crazy, right?"

"What the hell?" I was starting to feel annoyed. Did this girl even want to be a villain? I was about to voice my thoughts when a scream ripped through the air.

"Stop! Stop! Don't do this!"

A few heads turned to the source, but seeing that it was another brawl, they all ignored it and continued on. I would've done so as well, if I hadn't seen Jupi standing in the middle of it. She was the one screaming, but if I remembered correctly, throughout the entire day, Jupi did not once ask others to stop. I watched a little longer and realized that she was not protecting herself from the blows at all. Instead, she had her arms spread out, taking every blow and blocking it for a boy cowering behind her.

"... That's it," I grumbled angrily as I stomped towards them.

"Mercury?"

"Go on without me, Milks. I'll come over to study for the exam later tonight."

"Huh...?" he didn't sound happy with this arrangement, but he didn't voice it. I heard him walk off to the edge of the floating campus and took out his folded up craft from his bag.

I walked up to the group of sophomores picking on Jupi and called out to them, "Hey! What do you think you brats are doing?"

They all stopped and turned to face me, ready to fight. However, as soon as they recognized me as the third highest ranked, they immediately dropped their fists and feet. "H-Hey, Merc--"

"Don't you call me that."

"Er... Mercury. What's the problem? She's fair game."

"Yea, I know. Which is why I'm taking her from you," I walked closer and they immediately backed away, "So we can do this the easy way or the hard way. I'm okay with either. I've got more than enough points."

The group of kids looked at each other before running off, "Sucks to be you, Jupi!"

"Um..." Jupi wiped some blood off her face, "Tha-- Waaah!"

I grabbed her by the collar of her shirt and lifted her up before slamming her onto the nearest wall. She wasn't just small, she was light too.

"Ahh... Um..." she struggled to breathe, but I made sure to give her enough space for air. Just... strangled breaths of air, "H-Hey, he's hurt. ...I... I want t-to bring him to the nur... nurse."

"Shouldn't you worry about yourself first, Jupi?"

She smiled at me, "I don't have any points."

"What would you say tomorrow? When you do have points?"

"I'd give them to you--" I pressed harder, really cutting off her air supply now. Her hands involuntarily reached up to try and pry my fingers off.

"What the hell are you planning, bitch?! Nobody says or does the shit you did today!"

"...Not..." she gasped, "...Not..." She shook her head. Unable to get her message across by speech, she hoped that she could do it through body language. Gritting my teeth, I dropped her. She was telling the truth. There would've been no point to not tell me as I choked her to death. There were no points for killing on campus while the cameras were looking at us, but there weren't any punishments for doing so, either. There was no point for her to risk her life lying to me.

On the ground, she coughed and sputtered as she caught her breath. Immediately after doing so, she ran over to the boy she had been defending. He had passed out from the beating earlier. "Oh, thank goodness he's still alive!" she smiled as she tried to lift him.

Who the hell says that?

I watched as she struggled and failed to lift him. With a sigh, I walk over to help her. The boy was heavier than her, of course, but not impossible to lift. "Nurse's office, right?"

She looked up at me with wide eyes, "...Yes!" she smiled.

"Stop fucking smiling at me," I growled, "I nearly killed you just now."

"But you didn't! Thank you!"

"_Don't _thank me."

"Well, this is a surprise, Mercury," the nurse said as we arrived at her office, "I've never seen you set foot in here before. Let alone with someone other than yourself injured."

"Don't get used to it," I grumbled as I set the boy down on the bed. I'm almost sure that no student in the history of this school had ever bought someone else to the nurse's office before.

"Thank you," Jupi said to the nurse and bowed her head before heading to the doorway, seemingly to wait for me.

"Bye, Mercury."

"...Bye," I quickly and robotically replied to the nurse before turning and walking away.

"What is your deal?" I asked as we walked out of the school. There was nearly no one on campus now. A few groups of "friends" were hanging out and smoking in the corners of the building, but all of them looked away as soon as they saw it was me.

"Huh?"

"Do you actually want to be a villain?"

"Yes!" she responded immediately, "Mom and Dad were great villains, so me too! I'm gonna be one too!"

"Well, maybe you didn't get the memo, but this isn't how a villain acts," she looked confused so I continued, "You know, we go around beating people up for our own interests. We don't save people, buy people lunches, or take people to the nurse!"

"Well, I just... I don't know, when I see people hurt or in trouble, I just... I just want to help them," she looked up at me, "Besides, you saved me before too."

"I also tried to kill you afterwards," I rolled my eyes as we reached the floating steps. It's been a while since I've had to walk down these and although it brings up a slight ping of fear, I quickly steeled myself and started the descent down. Five steps in, I realized Jupi wasn't following. "You coming?"

"I... Um... Yes," she muttered as she took the first step down. It bounced a little and she froze up.

I laughed, "Not necessarily a given in the real world, but here, you can't show weakness. It will be used against you."

"Right. Thanks," she mumbled as she took the next step. The same thing happened. It bounced, she froze. By the time she got to the step behind me, I had already gotten tired of this.

"Here," I bent down slightly, "Jump on my back."

"W-What?" her face turned red, "I-I c-can't...!"

"Get on, I'm not going to wait all day!" she stiffened at my tone of voice, but nodded and inched closer to the edge of her step. Finally, after what felt like a century, she jumped off and onto my back. "How did you even get up here?" I grumbled as I started down at a comfortable pace.

"My... My Dad flew me up here."

"Flew?"

"Yea, he's a dark wizard. He reigns over the forest in the east."

"Woah," my eyebrows shot up and nearly missed a step, "Your dad is a legend. He singlehandedly raised the dead and took over a kingdom. I mean, he got beaten back to the forest, but the fact that he still controls said forest says a lot already. Most of the kids here have parents who used to own things, but not anymore."

"I know," her voice was soft and happy, but her arms tightened around my neck, "I want to be just like them."

We got off the floating steps and walked a little ways until I reached my room. Hers was further down.

"See you tomorrow," she said cheerfully as I unlocked the laser wall.

"Shut up," I replied, but she still skipped away cheerfully. Once inside, I grabbed a few books and left again, turning on the lasers. I did promise Milks to study with him.

**4.**

The next day, Jupi walked in with a black eye. I checked the point records right after homeroom. Of course she was dead last. The primary default points given to us on the first day were gone the moment she got them. At the very least, probably no one would bother her now.

"Hey, clean my shoes," everyone in the cafeteria was watching the scene. Venus sat at his usual table and Jupi knelt before him with a wash cloth and a bucket of water. Even she was looking rather reluctant to do so. "I stepped on some dog crap earlier. Make sure to do a good job."

"Um...--!" before she could do anything, Venus sent his foot into her face, kicking her with enough force to send her falling onto her back, "Oops, my bad." Soft laughter came from the room.

"I wonder how she ended up being his underling," Milks whispered. The entire room was silent. We wouldn't want to draw attention to ourselves now.

"Poor thing."

"I-It's alright," Jupi mumbled as she sat back up with a crooked smile, "I'll help... clean..." She spent the next ten minutes wiping away at Venus's shoes in silence.

"Ah, pretty good. Here, the promised reward," he pushed a plate of food to the edge of the table. Of course, Jupi must be hungry since she didn't have any points to buy lunch. Well, it looks like it's all over now--

Venus pushed the plate over and onto the floor. The food landed face down with a splat. "There you go, good job, Jupi."

The entire room burst into laughter as Jupi stared at the food on the ground. Milks was laughing beside me as well. I didn't find it very funny, but...

_With this she'll learn._

Now I won't see someone so pathetic anymore.

But the next day.

And the next.

And so on for a full week, she was continuously knocked down the moment she tried to stand up. She was lucky to live near the base of the mountain. It wasn't worth going down there to steal her points. She wasn't super smart, but she still answered questions correctly in class. So every day there was an opportunity to steal from her. And along with stealing, an opportunity to beat her up. I wondered how she healed so quickly when I remembered that her father was a dark wizard. ...Surely she's been taught some healing magic.

Since Jupi's antics had become commonplace, a week later, another event caused a stir instead. It was enough of a shock that Jupi was ignored for the day and didn't get beat up.

Venus was dethroned.

Mars had gotten angry over some small thing and gone on a rampage of revenge towards Venus. He took out every single one of his men and finally got to Venus-- who wasn't much of a fighter to begin with and took him out. Unlike me or Mars, Venus didn't have the capabilities to rebuild his points in one day. His position had been built up over time. He would be stuck at the bottom for a while.

"Reap what you sow," I chuckled as I watched some classmates pour a bucket of leftover chalk from cleaning the chalkboards out the window. Venus had been tied up and left there since lunch time.

"Aargh!" Venus yelled in frustration, "I fucking swear! I'm going to kill every last one of--"

_Splash!_

"You're all bark, Venus!" one of them yelled as they poured another bucket. They lost their amusement after they ran out of dirty water, though, and packed up and left. Out of curiosity, I walked over to the window to see what sorry state Venus was in.

"Get off me!" Venus was struggling in the ropes as Jupi tried to clean some of the cuts on his face, "I don't want your goddamn pity!"

"I can untie you," she offered and he stopped struggling. The moment she finished, though, he stood up and kicked her in the stomach, slamming her into the wall.

"What's the matter with you?!" Venus yelled, "What kind of villain are you going to be when you graduate? Not a good one, that's for sure! Just give up and get out! You don't belong here!" After screaming at her, he demanded for her card, which she handed over while trembling. Once the points were transferred over, he stalked away, leaving her sniffling under the windows.

"...He's right, you know?" I called down to her, "Even if you can heal yourself up, why stand through all the pain? Just leave."

"You don't think I can be a villain either?" she looked up at me, eyes wide and ready to overflow with tears. Through all the beating and terrible things that had happened, I have yet to see her cry.

"..."

She looked away and I heard her start sobbing. She covered her face with her hands as though she wanted to hide the tears. It's pointless. I already knew. "Mom and Dad didn't believe I could either. So I begged them to send me here. To prove that I can be as great as them. I promised myself I wouldn't cry if I couldn't do it. ...But I can't do it. I'm just not cut out to be a villain."

With little effort, I jumped out of the second floor window and landed beside her, "I don't understand. People hit you and demean you every day and you don't cry, but the moment they call out on your dreams, you start bawling like a baby. You can defend yourself, but not your dreams?" There was no response so I continued, "Let me tell you something.

"My parents aren't great like yours. They were some petty thieves who had minor roles in stories and only last for one scene at the beginning of said stories-- they were stepping pebbles heroes and heroines. The money to attend this school, I had to get all of it on my own. When my classmates heard of my lineage on the first week, they all made fun of me and set out to get me. They tried to beat me up and told me I couldn't possibly become a great villain.

"Being told that for three days straight, I did want to give up, but the idea of satisfying them only made me angry. So I fought back until I made it up here. I don't like giving anyone the satisfaction of the _idea_ that they could beat my dreams out of me.

"So seeing you just pisses me off! You say you have a dream, yet you don't try to work towards it! And on top of that, you're sitting here crying over some people who said you couldn't do it. If you're just going to sit here and cry, then, _yes_, you should just give up and leave!"

There was still no response from her so I turned to leave. I had only taken two steps when it happened.

_Whack._

Ow. That hurt. I turned back and glared at her. She had tossed a rock at me.

Her face was still a mess of tears and boogers, but she had a lopsided grin on her face again, "Don't... Don't tell me what I should do about my d-dream! It's mine and has nothing to do with you!"

"Now that's more like it--" I was ready for a fight, but before I could even finish my statement, she fell flat on her face. "... ... Did she just cry herself to sleep?"

"Hey, I was wondering what was taking you so-- Hey! Why do you have Jupi in your arms?!" Milks had been waiting at the edge of campus on his craft.

"Yes," I answered as I climbed on with Jupi still in my arms.

"That doesn't answer--"

"She passed out. Just bring us down."

"I don't understand," Milks grumbled as he started up the craft, "This isn't like you. You usually just say it's none of your business and leave them to fend for themselves."

"Oh, do I? So you think you know me better than myself now?"

Milks blushed and didn't say anything else as he brought us down to the mountain. We stopped at the bottom first where we dropped Jupi in her room. As expected, there were no security measures in place for her cave, but no one bothered to try and rob her, either. Then, Milks brought me to my cave before leaving.

Laying in bed, I thought about what Milks said. He wasn't wrong. Usually, I just let people deal with their own problems. My policy was to not get involved in anything unless it was interesting and beneficial for me. I didn't like picking on the weak, but if it was interesting, I'd do it. Why did I help Jupi? Out of pity? ...Well, it didn't matter. Looked like she had something of a backbone now.

**4.5** **.**

"Tsk. That goddamn Mercury! No matter how hard I try, I never seem to have enough points to beat him!"

"It's because you're always aiming so low. If you really want to beat him, Aturn, you should aim to surpass Venus... No, surpass Mars, now."

"Shut up! You're my underling, don't suggest ideas to me like you're my boss or something!"

_Wham!_

"I... ack... ugh... I'm... sorry... ack... let... go!"

"What's the magic word?"

"...P...Pl...ack... please!"

"But beating Mars, that is a brilliant idea! I should just challenge him to a fight and just take his points!"

_Cough. Cough._

"Aturn, you're strong, but there is a reason why Mars is in first place now. Beating him will require underhanded methods."

"Hmm... Say, I've been looking at the points. ...Won't I catch up if I murdered someone?"

"Uh... Yea, that looks about right. But, murder! That's not so easy, only one person has done it in the last five years! And that was Mercury!"

"Well, he won't be the only one anymore. Call me over when you've thought of something!"

**5.**

I suppose it was too much to hope for that Jupi would start fighting her battles. No, the first thing I see walking in was her getting beat up again. She wasn't just fighting a losing fight, either. She was still apologizing and begging for them to stop.

"Hey, move out of the way," I said to the goons and as soon as they did so, I grabbed Jupi by the arms and pulled her up. She looked as though she was about to thank me, so I quickly smacked her on the head, "Get to class."

She nodded and hurried away. Beside me, Milks stared up with wide eyes.

"What?"

At lunch, I realized my points was getting low. Rather than being five thousand points ahead of Aturn, I was at about two thousand. "Hey," I said to the first table I came to, "Everyone here transfer me five hundred points."

"Wha--" the kid nearest to me started, but I grabbed him by the ear and slammed his face onto the table. I pulled a lighter out of my pocket and flicked it on, holding it close to his face.

"Ever wonder how being burned alive feels like?" I smirked at him before turning to the rest of the table, "So. We can either do this the easy way or the hard way. Five hundred's nothing anyways. I'm being nice."

"Why don't you just take all of his points?" a girl at the end of the table asked.

"Because. I'm being. Nice," I flicked the lighter over and set the first kid's clothes on fire. Releasing him, the kid screamed and immediately dropped to floor and rolled about. The entire cafeteria was already laughing. The other kids at the table immediately attempted to flee, but Milks activated a contraption of his to block their paths.

"Stop!" came Jupi's shrill voice as she ran to their defense. She stood in front of me with her arms up as though it would stop me.

"What? I'll stop if you have the four thousand points I'm asking from them."

"I... I don't."

"Then get the hell out of my way."

"D-Don't do this--" I didn't bother to wait for her to finish her stuttering reply. I shoved her aside. From the corner of my eye, I saw someone catch her.

"Okay, cards out with five hundred on them!" I order and one by one, the students pulled out their cards reluctantly. The two that didn't got a punch to the face and a threat to be burned before collection. All around us, the other students were cheering for Milks and I while yelling insults at the table.

The whole ordeal had taken twenty minutes. Oh, what a waste of my lunch time. They should've done as I told them to and it would save us a lot of time. I split the spoils with Milks 60-40. I did do more work, after all.

As we sat down to eat our meals, I noticed that Jupi was sitting with Venus. I supposed that was who had caught her earlier. Venus had fallen down to the low range. Mars was first and I was second. The newcomer for third place was a girl name Luna. I wasn't sure what she did in order to pass Aturn, but I don't mind. I prefer her in third place over Aturn.

Unexpectedly, over the course of the next few days, Venus stood by Jupi's side whenever she got picked on. He was stronger than her, of course, but the years spent making others do work for him certainly took a toll on him. Venus has made many enemies who now had a chance to beat him to their heart's content. At the end of one fight after school, with Jupi passed out next to him, I approached them.

"You're planning to use her, right?"

"...Not really."

"Then why?"

"I don't really know."

Jupi was causing a change in this school.

**6.**

"Where is he?" Arie hissed as she leaned against Jupi's desk and glared at her.

"I-I don't know!"

"You've been with him _everywhere_ for the past few days, you're sure to know!"

I thought for sure Arie gave up on Venus the moment he lost first place and started chasing Mars... but, there were rumors that Mars gave her a nasty rejection yesterday. I hadn't noticed until Arie mentioned it, actually. Venus hasn't been to class for two days. If he didn't come in today, this would be the third day in a row. While it wasn't unusual for students to skip class now and then, Venus was one of those who chose to attend every day.

"Useless!" Arie yelled and reached out to slap her. I quickly got up and raced behind her to grab her hand. "...Wha?!" she turned to look at me in surprise.

"Homeroom's about to start. Go sit down and stop causing a ruckus."

"Oh, um, right," she mumbled as her face turned pink. I rolled my eyes and returned to my seat. Jupi looked at me with furrowed eyebrows and a worried smile.

"S-Sorry, I don't know who else to turn to!" Jupi said as she bowed her head in front of me and Milks. Both of us sat there with our mouths opened. It was lunch time and just as we were about to start our meals, Jupi approached us with an...interesting proposition.

"Um," I finally said after my brain processed just what she wanted, "You want us to search for Venus."

"Yes."

"What makes you think we would want to do that?"

"Well... I didn't have--"

"Let me rephrase that. What makes you think you're allowed to turn to me for help?"

She flinched, "I thought... I thought we were friends."

Milks looked at me and I quickly shook my head, "We're not friends." Her eyes widened with hurt and I almost regretted saying so. Almost. I am without morals.

Dammit.

"We don't know anything about Venus, we can't help you even if we wanted to."

"Yea," Milks agreed, "You're better off putting up wanted posters so maybe someone will try to go after his points."

"B-But then he'll only get _assaulted_!"

I shrugged, "You would've found him, at least."

Her face scrunched up in frustration, "Thanks for your time." She quickly turned and ran out of the cafeteria, probably in search of Venus.

I had four classes in the morning and four in the afternoon. Two of my afternoon classes were shared with Jupi. (Three of which with Milks. He wasn't in the one right after lunch.) As the teacher entered the classroom, I noted that Jupi wasn't present. It was odd considering that she was always in class. Well, there's always a first time for skipping.

The class ended and I hurried to my next one. In the next classroom, I took a seat next to Milks. He talked about some new scientific field he was dabbling in as the room filled up. Once again, no Jupi. Fifteen minutes into the class, I stood up.

"Mr. Mercury, what are you doing? Sit back--"

I ignored him and walked right out. At the doorway, I called, "Milks, you coming?"

"Huh? But this is interesting--"

"Please, you've already learned all class material for all our classes except for gym within three weeks of the semester."

"But I wanted to study his behavior..." Milks whined as he gathered his books.

"My behavior--"

"Yea, like the pattern for when you give exams--"

"Milks!"

"Right, coming!"

Outside in the hallway, I asked Milks, "Where would you think Jupi would hide?"

"What?"

"Jupi."

He frowned, "This is about Jupi?"

"Yea. She wasn't in class just now."

"So? Maybe she's playing hooky."

"She wasn't in the last class either. Venus is missing. Something's up."

"Why do you care at all?!"

I shrugged, "Well, you're the genius, what do you think Jupi's up to?"

Milks sighed, the praise worked. "First of all, you know Jupi better than I do so you can probably answer it better... if you were as smart as me."

"Shaddup."

"Second, it's pretty obvious what she's doing. She's looking for Venus."

"But she hasn't skipped class to do so before."

"Exactly. There are two main reasons why she would be skipping class to look for him. One, she found a clue and is currently pursuing him. Two, she got lost and in trouble while looking for him."

"How is the second different than the first?"

Milks sighed and gave me a look as if to say I was an idiot. I told myself that if I punched him now, he would refuse to tell me more. "The first means she's hot on a trail. The second means she was wandering aimlessly. Think about it. It's obvious that she's been searching for him the past few days, but she's always come to class. That means that she had been running around hoping to get lucky. Since she didn't, she returned to class."

"Okay... So. I feel like it's more likely she got into trouble, like falling into a ditch, but looking for a clue sounds easier."

"Yes, I agree. We should just search for places she likes to hide, first," Milks looked at me, "Once again, why do you care? If she disappeared forever, it wouldn't matter, right?"

"... Would you search for me if I disappeared, Milks?"

"Huh?" he opened his mouth as if to respond, then he closed it and looked away. After a few seconds, he grumbled out, "...Maybe." Not a no. It might as well mean yes. The fact that he's willing to give it a thought means something already. This is no time to play diplomat, though.

"Well, it's somewhat like that."

"But you're not friends--"

"No! We're not," I denied, "But that's not the point now! Where would we find clues to where she is?"

"Hmm... Well," Milks crossed his arms and leaned against the hallway walls, "Jupi knows Venus quite a bit, right? So the first thing she must've done is look in all the places she knows he likes to hide. She must've done all of that the past few days in between classes no matter how far or deep a hole she had to look in. This would be going along the route that she got lost while searching. In which would result in a case like this..." he started mumbling.

"Hey, speak so I can hear!"

"Okay, okay. So if we assume that she suddenly had a bright new idea to where Venus might be and got lost, we'd be in the same situation as case two. Meaning we set that aside. That leaves one other option to check first."

"Which is...?"

"Someone tipped her off as to where Venus is."

"Okay! Who is that someone, then?!"

"The person who kidnapped him. If it was someone who just happened to find him, they'd just take his points and leave, not tell Jupi."

"So this is a whole trap for Jupi..."

"Yes. And if we follow her, we'd be walking into this trap as well."

"I don't care! Keep going with your hypothesis!"

"Okay, okay! So, Jupi must've received this information during lunch, after she spoke with us."

"Because otherwise, she wouldn't ask us."

"Correct. If she needed help to get to him, she'd straight up ask us. If it threatened her to keep quiet, she would not have talked with us at all. So this eliminates the possibility of the note being left at her desk. We switch classrooms between nearly every class and being the assholes we are, we like to switch seats each day, too. The note might not have reached her if left on a desk during lunch. So the hint was either handed to her or left in her locker."

"Searching for hints as to someone handing her something would take a lot more time. Let's check her locker first."

"Sure, lead the way."

Her locker was on the third floor, in the very back, and on the bottom row. It was among the set of the most inconvenient lockers to get to. She did transfer in and chose her locker late, after all. I had seen her come down this hall quite often. Once, I saw her grabbing a jacket as she left. Approaching her locker, I tugged at the lock and twisted it until it broke. Pulling it off and tossing it aside, the door swung open to reveal a neat locker. A small jacket was hung on a hook and a few notebooks were pushed to the side. On top of it was an open envelope and a piece of paper on top of it.

"Wow, we were lucky to get it right on the first try," Milks said as I picked up the letter.

_We have Venus._

_Come to the X on the map._

"Shit!" I tossed the books around the locker, but she had taken the map with her in order to look for Venus.

"Calm down, Mercury!" Milks said as he pulled me away from the locker. In return, I shoved him aside and kicked the locker close, denting it in the middle.

"Fuck this shit! I'm going to break apart the whole school to find them, then!"

"W-Wait a moment! Hold up, Merc!"

"Don't fucking call me that!"

"Sorry, right, I forgot..." he looked away and his words were lost in mumbles again.

"Dammit! So close!"

"Wait, Mercury. We're not out of clues yet! We can search video cameras and... and--"

"That'll take too fucking long! Can't you think of where that map might lead at all? Milks! Aren't you supposed to be a fucking genius?!" I slammed my fists against the lockers, leaving heavy dents in several of them.

"Well... Uh... The only thing I can say for sure is that it's not an obvious place, of course. Jupi searched for him for three days. She had all the time after school, she must've searched most of the campus already. She's definitely covered the obvious places. On top of that, others have been searching, too, mostly in order to get his points. So where ever this is, it's hidden and unknown by most of the people on campus."

"...Shit," I whispered. It hit me. The place where they were.

"What?! Did you think of something--"

I clenched my fist hard enough to feel my nails dig into my palm, "Fucking shit! Shit! Shit! Those assholes!" I punched the locker several times and kicked it for good measure. "Fucking Aturn!"

"Aturn's behind this?! How do you figure...?"

"They're at Tune's grave."

**8.**

Aturn was the only one who knew where Tune died. When I reported Tune's death, he was sitting outside the detention office. It was still our first semester at the school and we hadn't gotten the hang of it all quite yet. Aturn was in trouble for trying to attack a teacher.

"Splendid! Splendid job!" the dean said with a smile, "I expect great things from you, Mercury!"

I forced a smile back, "Of course. It was simple. I just pretended to be his f-friend--" my voice faltered, but the dean didn't notice, "--and lured him to that cave and killed him."

"Yes, we don't have any surveillance in that area. Perhaps we should," the dean mused to himself, "...No, it's not exactly a well known place either. Perhaps someone will use it again in the future. Of course, after three deaths there, we'd put something in. At that point, it'd just be a freebie."

"Yea," I agreed, unable to bring myself to say more.

"Alright, good job, Mercury. You can go back to class!"

The moment I stepped outside, Aturn stepped in my way and asked, "Where's this cave?"

"None of your goddamn business."

"I asked you a quest--"

Not in the mood for his games, I punched him in the gut. As soon as he dropped to his knees, I kicked him in the head. "I don't give a shit for your questions," I said as I kicked him a few more times for good measure before leaving.

Two months ago, Aturn approached me with a star shaped rock. "Hey, guess where I got--" I didn't wait for him to finish his sentence and beat him to an inch of his life. I didn't even bother going for his points that time. I simply took the rock and went to return it to where it came from.

"Sorry, Tune, for letting him take this," I said as I laid the rock beside a cross at the entrance of the cave.

"How do you know that no one else knows where Tune's grave is?" Milks asked as we raced through the hallways of the school.

"Because they'd come and brag about it to me just like Aturn did. Everyone knew about me and Tune."

We reached the back end of the school. There was only one old, abandoned classroom here. It was occasionally used for club activities. For the most part, due to the fact that there was more space than students in the school, it was left unused since it was at the very back of the school. But that's not important.

What's important is the janitor's closet next to it. I pulled open the door and stepped aside as a mop and broom clattered to the floor. I started pulling out the cleaning supplies and throwing things off the back shelf.

"What are you doing?" Milks asked as a bar of unwrapped soap narrowly missed his head.

"You'll see."

The entire section was cleared off soon enough. Then, I pulled at a crack in the wall and like magic, a section of the wall pulled open like a door. Beyond it was a small tunnel that led into darkness. It was about two feet in height and three feet in width. A perfect rectangle cut into the wall.

"What the-- Did the school make this?" Milks asked with wide eyes.

"Of course not," I responded, "I wouldn't have been able to receive the points reward if it did. We guessed that a student that graduated long ago must've made the tunnel. There's another entrance that's harder to get to than this. You have to climb down the side of the floating campus, but it takes more time to go through that way."

I climbed in and started crawling through. I heard Milks do the same after I went in a few feet.

"We?"

I swallowed, "Tune and I."

**9.**

Before I started hanging out with Milks, Tune was my best friend. We met in my senior year of middle school. I had been stealing since I was a sixth grader in order to get enough money to pay for all four years of my tuition at Vill A. In.

"Sweet, this wallet is packed!" I counted the bills as I sprinted down the street. Behind me, a lady was hollering at her fallen rich husband laying in a puddle of blood. I didn't kill him, but she was freaking out all the same. And I thought it was freaking hilarious!

_Wham!_

"Ughh..." something hit me in the head and I went flying backwards until I hit the pavement. The purse was still in my hand and as soon as I registered someone standing in front of me with a fighting stance, I reached for the gun in my back pocket. He was faster, though, and the next thing I knew, I was lying face down with my face pressed into the pavement and my right arm twisted behind my back. I tried to move my left hand, but that was crushed by his foot. "Aaahh!" I cried out as pain erupted from multiple places in my body.

"Wow, is poverty really so bad in this city that you'd have to start stealing at such a young age?"

"Get off me!" I yelled as I struggle to no avail. I was at a complete disadvantage in this position.

"Hey, officer! Good timing!" he yelled and I heard footsteps approach us. My head was twisted in the wrong direction to see, "Here's your purse, Ma'am." From my peripheral, I could see him hand the bag to the lady.

"Here you go officer--" as soon as his weight shifted, I sprung up, knocking him off balance. The officers went for their guns and I didn't waste time being scared, I sprinted out of there. The firing started as I rounded a corner, but I didn't stop running.

Darn it! I was so close to getting all the money I needed!

I tried to be careful for the next two weeks, but every time, I was stopped by this boy in a mask. It was a different design every time, but I knew it was him. Thanks to him stopping me each time, it took me much longer to get all the money I needed. I finally did so the night before the money was due.

_Finally! I don't have to deal with him again!_

...So I thought.

On the first day of school, there he was sitting in the seat in front of me. I didn't know his face or name, but I recognized his voice. It was also easy to tell he recognized me from the surprise on his face.

The tunnel came to an end and I jumped down with ease. I immediately turned around to help Milks, who was quite a bit shorter than me, down. I could already hear voices echoing off the stones and I saw the glow of light from the cave entrance. The sun had started setting.

"Ahhh!!" came Jupi's bloodcurdling scream. I immediately broke into a run.

"Haha!" Aturn laughed as she screamed, "What kind of sorry excuse of a villain are you to come help someone who got captured?"

"S-St... Ahhh!! Stop!" there was a horrible cracking sound and Jupi let out another scream. Her screams finally died down slightly as she panted. "I'm going... I'm going to be a villain," she mumbled as tears rolled down her face. I slowed to a stop and hid behind a rock and motioned for Milks to do the same.

I would've run right in to help her, but I wanted to see... How was she going to deal with this?

Venus was knocked out cold next to Jupi, who was a mess of blood and tears on the ground. She was clutching her right arm, which was limp and at an odd angle. Aturn must've broke it.

"Just give up!" Aturn yelled and both him and five other goons behind him laughed, "You're better off being a bad hero or a good victim! You don't have the talent to be a villain!"

Jupi looked as though she was going to cry harder and I prepared myself to spring out and help her, but then she did something I couldn't imagine her doing.

She glared up at Aturn. In return, Aturn narrowed his eyes, "What?" he yelled, "Got something to say?"

Jupi grit her teeth and a swirl of light surrounded her. In seconds, all of her injuries disappeared and she stood up.

"Did I say you could heal yourself up--Oof!"

Jupi dashed forward and rammed her whole body onto him. She was a great deal smaller than him, but the momentum was enough to knock him back a step. "Shut up!" she yelled at him, "Shut up! Don't make fun of my dream!"

"How dare you," Aturn grumbled as he picked Jupi up by the back of her collar and let her dangle several feet above the ground, "Don't tell me what to do!" She was thrown harshly onto the ground again and Aturn motioned for his goons to gather around him. "C'mon, let's just kill her already," he reached over to pick up a piece of wood from the ground.

Piece of wood?

My eyes drifted to the side, near the entrance of the cave. The world seemed to slow and I was seeing red. That was a part of the marker for Tune's grave.

"I suppose it would've made sense for you to go to this school," Tune said as he flopped down on my bed.

I glared at him, "I didn't invite you in here."

"You're not kicking me out, either," he grinned.

"Well, now I am. Get the fuck out of my room."

"Aww, come on, Merc! Don't be like that! We're friends, right?"

"Villains don't make friends. What's your problem anyways? What are you doing here?"

Tune frowned, "That can't be a rule. Everyone needs friends!"

"Not me," I said without hesitation. I came here to succeed, not make friends, "And you didn't answer my question. What are you doing here?"

His frown deepened and he rolled to look away from me. The little shit. How dare he act as though this was his own room. "Same reason you are," he grumbled, "...To be a villain."

I raised an eyebrow, "Unless it was some elaborate ruse to get public favor, I don't see the reason why you'd stop me all those times before I started school here."

"Ha! Those days were fun!" Tune exclaimed as he turned to face me again, "So, we're friends, right?"

"For the last time! I don't make friends," I looked away, "...But if you call it an alliance, I'll be okay with it."

"Alliance it is!"

In that first week of school, I earned points like crazy. I took advantage of every situation I found myself in. Of course, half the time I did, Tune was there to interrupt and stop me. Even at a villain school, he was ready to be a hero. He also did very well for himself. He was strong and fast and he earned a lot of points by answering questions in class. He could've easily ruled the school if he tried to put forward some schemes and stole others' points.

But instead, he chose to foil everyone else's schemes.

"You little shit!" I yelled as I chased him down a hallway. It was the sixth scheme he'd ruin for me, "I'm going to fucking kill you!"

"You can try!" he laughed as he reached a dead end. Seeing there was nowhere to run, I grinned and sped up. He quickly pulled open the nearest door-- a janitor's closet and shut it behind him.

"Gotcha!" I yelled as I pulled the door open. I was ready to grab him by the neck, but I found him staring intently at the wall. A few items have been pushed aside. "...What?" I was curious as to what had caught his attention. What could be more important than our game of tag?

"I shut the door, but I felt a breeze," he said as he pressed a hand against the wall. In a matter of minutes, we discovered the secret tunnel to the cave. Curiosity overcoming any feelings of rage and mischief, we crawled through the tunnel together. "Amazing!" Tune exclaimed upon seeing the end of the cave. A harsh wind was blowing and he clung to the edge of the wall as he looked downward.

"Wow!" I agreed as I joined his side and looked downward.

"Let's keep this a secret," he suggested, "It'll be our secret little hide out!"

"Haha, sure!"

I wasn't sure when it started going downhill. I was having the time of my life despite our squabbles and fights. I was becoming a better villain every day and he was ...well, becoming not a villain. He was the hero of the school and that was _not_ a good thing. It was the equivalent of being the loser of the school.

"Merc," the freeloader was hanging out in my room again. He was laying on my bed while I leaned against it, listening to music. Tune was staring at something on the ceiling of the cave.

"What?" I ask as I pull out an ear bud. The music had gotten low enough for me to hear him call my name.

"You're my best friend, Merc," he rolled over and looked me in the eye.

"...W-What?!" I tripped over my words and looked away, "I told you--"

"That you don't make friends. I know," Tune finished the sentence for me, "But that's you. I make friends. And you're my best friend."

"..." I continued looking away.

"So," he smiled, "Could I be your best friend, too, Merc?"

"I, uh," my eyes traveled all across the room, but refused to meet his. Finally, I looked at him. There was a smile on his face, but everything else yelled out that he was miserable, "One... can't hurt."

"Great!" his face lit up considerably, but there were still traces of misery present in his eyes. "Best friends! That's forever, too! Okay?!"

"Yea, yea, don't get carried away."

A week later, he stopped coming to class. It was odd because although he didn't like being a villain, he just about always attended his classes. Even when he didn't, he alerted me first and we'd ditch together. After three days of absence, I searched for him.

My search eventually led me to that cave we found together. There, I found his body.

I was angry.

I was so angry.

In my rage, I decided that this sort of death was useless and pathetic. It wasn't him. It wasn't _worthy _of being him. He should've gone down fighting! And so I spun a lie. I said I killed him and reported it to the teachers. They followed me to the cave and confirmed his death, and when they were about to ship his body off to his parents, I didn't let them. They wouldn't have cared anyways, that I buried him in the cave.

It was only after everything was said and done that I realized what had happened. Tune was _gone_. And I told the world I killed him.

"Shit!" I yelled as I sat before his grave marker, "Shit! Shit! Shit! What the hell, Tune! Why?! We're best friends! Why didn't you depend on me?!"

But yelling at a grave accomplishes nothing.

And even villains can be selfless enough to understand the pain of losing a friend.

**10.**

"You bastard!" I yelled as I ran out and slammed my fist into Aturn's jaw. He stumbled backwards and fell.

"W-What the hell?" he grumbled as he held his jaw. Behind me, Milks was already beginning to fight the other goons. "What the hell are you doing here?" he asked, but I ignored him.

Instead, I helped Jupi up and she began healing her injuries, "You alright?"

"Y-Yea," she looked at me with wide eyes.

"Why are you helping her?" Aturn growled, "How's this? We can share the points. There's two to kill here. Sure, it'll be a little less, but I'm willing to share." He must be really desperate to get these kills in.

"Shut up. You dumbass," I say between gritted teeth, "One more word out of you and I might murder _you_ instead."

"Wh-What?! Why?! Why would you rather make an alliance with her? She's weak and pathetic! Venus is barely better!"

I turned away from Jupi, but kept a hand on her shoulder, "It's not an alliance. I choose to help Jupi because she's my _friend_."

There was silence except for the whirring of Milks' machinery in his fight against the goons. I'll have to help him out soon. Then, Aturn broke the silence with laughter, "What?! Friends?! Pathetic! You're forgetting you're a villain?! No, saying such a thing means you're not _worthy_ of being a villain at all! You should just leave! Pathetic piece of sh--"

Not patient enough to hear the rest of his rambling, I kicked him square in the face.

"Still the pathetically weak piece of shit _you_ are," I took a few steps closer to him and he scurried backwards. "Listen up," I picked up the pace and reach him. Grabbing him by the collar of his shirt, I lifted him up to my eye level. He was much taller than me so his knees still touched the ground, "Being a villain doesn't mean I can't make friends. I can be a great villain and still find people I trust and care about. Now, apologize to Jupi for making fun of her dreams."

"Apologize? Apologize!" Aturn's hands reached up and both punched me once in the face, knocking me away. I lost the grip on his shirt. "You're pathetic! You're all pathetic! I'm going to _kill _you."

"Go ahead and try!" I growled back as we both rushed towards each other, arms out and ready for a brawl.

We exchange several blows before someone tackled me from behind. A sharp pain erupted from my left side and I turned to see that one of Aturn's goons had stabbed me in the side. What the hell was Milks doing?! I shoved the goon off and struggled to stand, feeling both the pain and the dripping blood from doing so. I saw that Milks had been knocked unconscious and that one of the goons was approaching him.

"Shit!" I rushed over to help him, but I hit the ground after three steps.

"You're not going anywhere!" Aturn growled as he has me pinned on the ground. This was not a fun position, my legs were useless with him sitting on me and my arms were caught. Ugh... how did this idiot get the advantage? "Kill the sleeping ones! And knock out the girl!" he ordered as his two remaining goons-- all roughed up by Milks-- stood wearily and approached Jupi.

"Fuck! Jupi! Run!" I yelled, but she was being backed further and further into the cave.

"I'd worry about yourself," Aturn laughed and the next thing I see is his fist. He continued a few more times until I lifted my head up and head-butted his fist with my skull. ...Ow! Also not fun! But it looked like it hurt him, too, because he let go of my arms with his other hand to cradle his hurt fist.

I immediately punched him in the stomach, but unfortunately, the angle I was at didn't give me much force behind my punches.

"Ahh! What the?! Help! Help!"

That wasn't Jupi.

Both Aturn and I turn to see that the two goons were floating in the air. Jupi had her hands up and was trembling.

"You... can use offensive magic?" I asked with wide eyes.

"Not... Not really," she squeaked. She waved her arms and the goons flew through the air to land onto Aturn, knocking him off me.

"Well, whatever you're using, keep doing it!" I yelled as I rushed over to kick Aturn in the stomach. "Stay down, you bastard!" I yelled at him.

"D-Don't do that much damage!" Jupi stammered as she raised her hands again and all of the goons floated upwards. They all started screaming and Jupi was straining to keep them all up.

"Just dump them over the side of the mountain," I suggested.

"N-No," she quickly shook her head, "That... That wouldn't be right!"

"You're a villain!"

"I know, but..."

I sighed and rolled my eyes, "Do as you want then. I don't give a fuck. They weren't trying to kill _me_."

She looked away and as the goons floated up to the top of the cave, she put her hands down. They let out a shout as they all dropped about two stories to the ground. Most of them were knocked out. Only Aturn still had his eyes open. I stamped on his face until he closed them.

As soon as they were all out, I turned to Jupi, "Let's grab Venus and Milks and get out of here."

Jupi nodded as she went over to grab him by one shoulder and try to lift him up. Seeing her struggle, I gave in and helped pick Venus up. ...This guy was so light! Then, with Venus secured on my back, I went to pick Milks up as well. 

"Maybe I should quit," she whispered to me as we stumbled over the rocks and up the tunnel back into the school.

"What?"

"Being a villain. I just don't have it in me."

"Really? After all that, now you say you're going to quit?"

"I couldn't kill them!"

We reached the crawl space before the closet and it was time to wake the two of them up. "You got some spell to wake them?" I asked as I set them both down, "It's not like you have to kill as a villain."

"It's a goal, isn't it?! I don't have any waking skills."

"Okay, guess I'll just slap them," I said as I got to work smacking their faces, "No, the goal is to do bad things. It doesn't matter that you're bad at it, either. There are good villains and bad villains. So what if you're a bad villain? You're still a villain."

Milks stirred first and as he did so, I yelled at him for losing his battles, then gave him a one armed hug. When Venus finally woke, he snapped awake.

"Where am I? Don't fucking touch Jupi!" we all stared at him for a moment until he realized we weren't Aturn and his goons and his face turned bright red.

"Okay, I hate to get in the way of you lovebirds," I said as I started to crawl through the tunnel, "Let's go, Milks! I need to get a new grave marker for Tune."

**11.**

The days that followed were the same. The students got into fights and all sorts of trouble as we attended classes until our graduation. The only difference was that both Milks and I stop to defend Jupi and Venus if they were into trouble.

We all graduated. Even Jupi.

She only ever did one malicious thing in her entire high school career and she cried through the entire thing. With Venus's help, she tricked some students into giving her a tenth of their points.

Well, hate it or not, she needed to do something bad in order to graduate...

On graduation day, Mars and I tied for having the most points with Venus in second, and Luna in third. Aturn was fourth and Milks was fifth. Aturn had the angriest look on his face as they displayed the rankings. Four whole years and he couldn't get into the top three. I laughed so hard!

Then there was Jupi, who was dead last and feeling disappointed about it, but smiled anyways. We met her parents, who seemed upset that she was ranked last, but said that she had a lifetime ahead of her to prove the school wrong. They didn't sound like supportive parents, but proud parents, though. Like they were sure their child couldn't do badly.

That's what makes them villains, I suppose.

"We'll see each other again, right?" Jupi said as we sat outside on the edge of campus after the ceremony.

"Of course," Venus promised, then looked at both Milks and me.

"Yea, I'm sure we'll run into each other sometime," Milks shrugged as he played with a robotic contraption of some sort in his hands, "You can come visit my lab at any time."

"Thinking of ways to take over the world already, huh?" I teased.

"Always good to start early," Milks said and looked up, "What about you, Mercury?"

"Sorry, guys," I shrugged with a forced smile, "But this place just seems too small now. I'm going off to somewhere far away. Maybe on a journey."

"That sounds awfully un-villain like," Venus sniffed in disgust.

"That doesn't mean I can't do villainous things!" I laughed as I punched him in the shoulder. He immediately recoiled and glared at me. Beside him, Jupi looked as though she wanted to cry, "Hey, it's not like we _won't_ ever see each other," I promised, "We'll keep in touch and stuff."

"You better!" Milks said, whacking me on the head with the screwdriver he had been using, "You didn't tell me about this!"

"Ouch! What the fuck man?! That hurt! I wasn't decided until this morning, okay?!"

"Why this morning?" Venus asked.

"Well... I just... looked into the auditorium and realized how many villains and villains-to-be were in this country and I... I guess I wanted to be special. Not just another evil person sitting here. I want to go to different parts of the universe."

"...Fair enough."

"If it's what you want."

"You know where to find me for a visit."

"God, you guys are so melodramatic," I grumbled as they all pulled me into a hug.

**epilogue.**

_Ten years later..._

"P-Please, I beg you! It wasn't my fault that the mission went south! I'm not a mole!"

"Then, I do wonder how only you survived in that mob of cops," Venus said, his voice came out smoothly. It wasn't a question, he had a definite answer in mind. His slender fingers held the fork and knife gently as he cut off a piece of meat. The man on the other end of the table had tears streaming down his face and blood covering his fingers. He was handcuffed and tied to the chair. Beside him, two men with pliers had been pulling out his fingernails one by one.

"I... I ran! I ran really fast!"

"You can outrun bullets?"

A scream split the air and all heads turned to a side doorway.

"Help! Help!" the tortured man yelled at her. Suddenly, there was a knife against his throat.

"Shut up, you mongrel," Venus growled as he stood above the table and pressed the knife against the man. Then, he turned to the woman clinging to the doorway, "Sorry, you had to see this. I'll get this cleaned up." He nodded at the two men, who began to pull the tortured man away and Venus jumped off the table. "And don't ever try to even look at my wife's way, you trash. You don't deserve to," he said just as the man was pulled out of the room.

"D-Did you really have to..."

"It's all business," Venus promised as he walked up to hug and kiss her, "Don't pay it any mind, Jupi..."

_Elsewhere..._

It's only the afternoon. He thought that bad things were only supposed to happen at night when he was little, but his brother had taught him that bad things happen in the day, too. And he has to prevent them.

But as he streaks through the streets, he really wishes it's night time. Then, people won't gawk and point at his costume. They won't pull out their phones and snap pictures.

Being a superhero is tough.

He runs through half the city before he finally arrives at the church. With a bang, he slams the doors open and the two people inside turn to look at him.

One is a bloody mess, his arms and legs broken. He is held up by the neck by the other.

"Stop!" the boy in the costume pleads, "Don't kill him, Merc! You don't have to do this!"

Mercury smiles as his hand closes down around Aturn's throat, "What do you take me for, Nep?"

The superhero, Nep, opens his mouth, but no words come out. Mercury is just someone he met a few months ago. He helped him fight crime and track down Aturn. "You... You helped me! So you can't be such a bad person!

"H...elp... Help... m...e..." Aturn whimpers out.

"Your brother would've stopped me already," Mercury mumbles.

"My brother?" Nep's eyes widened, "You know my brother?!"

Mercury smirks, "I was hoping you'd be like him." His hand closes around Aturn's throat, squeezing the life out of him.

"No!" Nep springs into action, running up and tackling Mercury down. Aturn is knocked away from Mercury and the two of them struggles for a while before they separate, standing ten feet apart from each other. "Just who are you?!" Nep screamed, "You do good things, but then you go and act like a villain!"

"I'm Mercury," he smiles, "And just because I do good things doesn't mean I'm not a villain."


	2. Afterword

**Afterword.**

  
First and foremost, I want to say bullying is terrible. These characters are villains, don't try to be like them. Anyone who is being bullied should seek help from an adults and others. Do not try to face things alone.

This is the first short story I ever managed to complete. I started it in the middle of college while my mind was in a very bad place. The idea for this story came from a couple of places.

1\. My Hero Academia

  
Of course a story about heroes and villains stemmed from this! I'm such a big fan! When this was written, the manga had just started. Every chapter that was released saved me in some way. For the first time, I felt like I wasn't alone in my struggles with school (even if I was in college at the time and not high school). So, in the idea of a school for heroes, I wondered what a school for villains would be like. Other manga played into this. I think the idea of a bullying system came from Tokyo Girls Destruction... I don't remember much anymore, though.

  
2\. The Characters

  
I was feeling pretty hopeless about school at the time. For a long time, I felt like I was only pretending to like my major. Despite that, I got good grades. I could do all the assignments I was given, but if left to my own devices, I only ever wanted to draw and write. It felt like that was my true calling, but I've always been taught that art does not give me a career. So the only way I could go about this was to pretend to like my major.

  
At that time, my best friend loved working in the major we shared. Even if my grades were higher, I knew in my heart that they were much better at class work we did because they loved what we did. They were the basis for Mercury's character, someone who knew what they wanted, worked hard to get what they wanted, and was good at what they wanted.

  
For me, I was torn.

  
On the days I lied to myself, I was Jupi. I said I loved what I did, but felt like I would never be good enough. I would never be capable per my nature.

  
Other days I felt like Tune. I was stuck doing something I hated and didn't have a choice to do what I loved.

  
I guess in a way, both the bullies and victims of this story was myself and my brain.

Needless to say, I got through college. I graduated. I did not end up like Tune. Did I end up like Jupi or Mercury? I don't know. I'm still working through it. Maybe one day, I'll find the place and future that's right for me.


End file.
